The Homestead Bill provided for any head of family of age with land up to 160 acres under certain conditions. Unpopular with Democrats and slave state politicians who all voted against it, the completed bill finally emerged from protracted conference committee negotiations and was passed on June 19, 1860. Three days later, President Buchanan vetoed the bill. The Homestead Act finally became law in 1862. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
John Fitch Cleveland and Horace Greeley, A Political Text Book for 1860 .... (New York: The Tribune Association, 1860), 188-192.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Lawmaking/Litigating
